Tag: new year

Nerf blasters, Foam Blasters, Gel Blasters to 2023 and on to 2024

It’s been a pretty big year for blasters, I think. In recent weeks, layoffs at Hasbro, MGA hiring blaster designers, the increasing number of products on Amazon, Etsy, and beyond, and increasingly compelling products from direct competitors shows a vastly shifting blasterscape than existed a few years ago. It’s a wild time to be into toy blasters right now, Nerf or otherwise.

The Favorites

This isn’t a comprehensive list of all the blasters that came out in 2023. I’m going over some of my favorite blasters from 2023 that I actually tried or got info from. If you don’t see it listed, I either didn’t purchase anything from that company, or they didn’t send me samples. I only have so much I can buy, unless I start crowdsourcing or get views for ad revenue.

Gel Blasting Forward

The past year saw a lot of expansion in different segments. Gel ball firing blasters definitely are a much bigger presence now than they were 10 years ago. Gel Blaster, Faction Battle System, Nerf Gelfire, GelZone, XShot, and so many other Amazon products comprise the number of selections you have. And a couple of products really stood out to me. The Faction Battle System Sentinel and the Nerf Gelfire Raid are two of my favorites this year. The Raid offers a proper scattershot of gel ammo, and the Sentinel is a REMOTE OPERATED turret styled blaster. The Setinel you can place on the ground, leave alone, and control with a remote to aim and fire, as long as you’re within range. I’ve seen so many gravity hopper gel blasters over the years, but I have not seen anything like the Raid and the Sentinel yet. I have seen milsim style gel blasters, ones with a magazine, even select fire and adjustable FPS. But the scattershot (shotgun) function and the remote operated features are what really caught my attention.

Nerf and Other Foam Darts for 2023

Even with gel blasters blastin’, foam blasters are still one of the more accessible mediums. You can play indoors with arguably the least risk to your home, and aside from finding darts in a couch you don’t have to worry about water residue, high FPS related injuries, and so on. That being the case, there were some amazing foam dart blasters this year.

Dart Zone Blasters and Dart Zone Pro

Dart Zone really pushed some amazing boundaries this year. They not only continued product for their high FPS pro line but also delivered the Thunderbolt. The blaster is an amazing piece of kit for under or about $20, fires straight, and has good power out of the box without being a pro labeled blasters. Accessible for all ages.

Dart Zone’s Pro main event was the Omnia Pro. It had a slight hiccup at initial release, but the blaster is only around $60+ and offers high powered firing, rechargeable battery, a choice from single, burst, or fully automatic firing, and is pretty compact. Between the price, the functionality, and the overall less cost of ammo from Dart Zone, the Omnia definitely stands tall in 2023.

Nerf

Nerf had a rough year. The reported sales were down, hence many layoffs in 2023, but the House of Potato still cooked. The Nerf Double Punch was a lot more fun to use than I expected, even with the gimmicky barrel action and dual mag setup. It had decent range stock, and the trigger action was pretty speedy. Yes, it was a free sample but of Nerf’s fulll length dart releases this year it was my favorite.

That’s right, full length. Nerf also finally entered the short dart segment with the Nerf Stryfe X. Upwards of 150+ FPS, USB-C charged battery, and a familiar but revamped Stryfe profile. It’s a good blaster, but the approximately $120 price tag is pretty hefty for what you get. All in all, it’s progress, and the blaster is pretty fun to use. One of the major highlights for Nerf from 2023 for sure.

Buzz Bee Toys

Buzz Bee Toys continues to chug along, and I am HERE FOR IT. Last year the Alpha Auto 72 was definitely one of my favorite overall blasters, and this year the EZ-Fire is another great product. Between including TWO magazines, a ton of (new style) darts, and being a solidly built blaster, the EZ-Fire is incredibly priced to be easy on your budget. Smooth lever action and slamfire, I had no complaints about the blaster at all and it is definitely one worth checking out if you haven’t tried it yet.

Blasting Ahead to 2024

Licensing is going to continue to be HUGE for blasters in 2024. Nerf is still churning out Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox blasters, their in-house brands like Star Wars, Transformers, Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Marvel, and GI Joe are always a possibilty as well. If Nerf LMTD continues to 2024, that opens the field even wider (seeing as how we’ve gotten an Aliens, Star Trek, and League of Legends blaster, just to name a few.)

Not to be outdone, Dart Zone and Buzz Bee Toys each released Stranger Things blasters this year. Before, Dart Zone released a Jurassic World pro blaster. Nerf may have plenty of licenses to choose from right now, but the other brands are definitely attracting attention now. Speaking of Nerf, they used to have the Halo license and before that, it was Mattel. The most recent licensee for Halo now will be Gel Blaster.

And while I mention them last, they are definitely not least, Zing, makers of StikBots and a variety of bows, are producing Cyberpunk 2077 gel blasters. And to say I’m EXCITED for those is a SEVERE UNDERSTATEMENT.

Most recently, Zing made Avatar themed bows, so licensed properties are not new to them. And from what I’ve seen, Cyberpunk is in great hands with them.

One other item that’s incredibly interesting but in a fledgling state, MGA is hiring blaster designers. Hasbro’s recent layoffs means a lot of talented people are on the hunt for a new job, and MGA, the makers of minibrands, LOL Surprise, Little Tikes, and many other brands, posted about hiring some of the recently available talent, including blaster designers. It’s still very early to see what this might mean, but ideally a new contender with MGA’s resources would be a very large ripple in the blaster space.

2024 Wish List for Toy Blasters

So with all this new stuff on the way, I can only speculate about the future. A few things I can see coming, but clearly only the toy industry people make more informed guesses. So in 2024 I am kinda hoping for….

Clearly, more licensed products are in the future, but this might also mean more repaints of older blasters just under new IPs. What licenses would I like to see? C’mon Hasbro, give us an actual GI Joe blaster that looks like something from the cartoon, or Optimus Prime’s Cannon.

Functionality wise, I’d like to see a return to multishot features, from any brand.. The Raid is a brilliant step in the right direction. More Mega XL, please! I believe in it!

Foam blasters continue to expand “pro” levels, maybe we finally get a shotgun multishot style in short dart pro level stylings?

A return to more animal shaped blasters. Seeing dinosaurs was great, I wouldn’t mind something like the Manta Ray (I say this practically every year).

Blasters start to adopt a retro style, like Flash Gordon

And that’s all for now, congrats on making it another year with me, let’s goooooooo!

Year in Review Highlights: Nerf (and other Toy Blasters) – 2012!

Oh man… what a year!  2012 was a pretty big time for toy blasters.  There was just so much that came out and so many things have happened, here we are again.

Some of my fave things:

– New York Toy Fair 2012

– The Nerf Hailfire Release Party (Thanks Nerf!)

 
– BATTLE OF THE AMAZONS

The Release of the Nerf N-Strike Elite:
– Retaliator
– Rampage
– Hailfire
– Triad
– Stryfe
– Strongarm
– Elit Reflex/Eliminator (Though I don’t believe it actually has a range increase)
– Elite Rayven
– Firestrike
– RoughCut 2×4
– Stockade (outside the U.S.)

RoughCut 2×4
Nerf Hailfire
Nerf Retaliator

Nerf Rampage
Nerf Strongarm and Firestrike
Nerf Elite Rayven and Stryfe
Nerf Triad
Nerf Eliminator
Nerf Stockade and 30 pack of darts

Nerf Dart Tag:
– Snapfire 8 (outside the U.S.)

Nerf Vortex:
– PYRAGON


– Diatron

Whew!  It’s been a busy year 🙂

Nevermind that Nerf revamped the Lazer Tag line:


Buzz Bee and Air Zone/Prime Time Toys had some respectable years with new releases of their own, but the most notable was probably the Range Master, an air blaster w/pump that got good ranges and gave some folks out there a non-springer option:

But it wasn’t just the year of the foam dart blasters, not at all.  Disposable ammo is part of the game now, past the Max Force spit wads and the first run of Xploderz water pellet blasters, there’s now also BlasterPro, “X2” series Xploderz, and Vapor.

BlasterPro

Xploderz

Vapor

This branch of the toy blaster tree will definitely bear some watching come 2013.  I got a feeling we’re in for a whole new level of innovation, between Nerf upping the ante with their increased ranges from the Elite/Vortex lines, now these new companies are going to have to show what they can do next.

Definitely not least, Zing Toys is out there with some great products as well.  Definitely keep an eye out for their Air Storm line:

Zcurve bow

ZX Crossbow

Zing Shot and Pop Rocketz

Zip Bak Bow
Z-Tek Crossbow

WHAT  A YEAR, HOLY CRAP.  SO MANY TOYS.

On that note… let’s not forget the fallen.  Gone, give or take some leftover stock on the shelves.  Safe to say these brands aren’t supported in their current forms anymore:

Max Force
Light Strike

BUT… while two brands dropped out (apparently)… one more has risen.  Yup, Launch N Attack

And a more local offering, Bumpa’s Blowguns!

And that, as they say, is that!  Sorry if I missed anything, but there’s only so much one can recall!  Have a great New Year, and see you in 2013!

Nerf/foam blaster/etc retrospective – so. much. 2011

Hmmm.. holy crap.  2011 was not just a huge year for Nerf, but for toy blasters in general.  Why all the popularity?  I really couldn’t tell you.  Maybe Hasbro’s N-Strike line proved that kids still like to play soldier, and the creation of pseudo-military looking toy blasters like the Maverick and Longshot showed there was some money to be made.  The Maverick is one of the best selling Nerf blasters ever, and with the revolver look and feel Hasbro did good, and they looked to do good again (proven in the amount of cosplay photos I’ve seen).  Success breeds competition though, and boy oh boy, were there a lot of newcomers this year.  This blog entry is by no means all-inclusive, and I know I’m going to miss a lot, but dangit I’m going to try!

One could say a large bit of news came from the New York Toy Fair , where both old guard and new competitors rose to visibility.  Prime Time Toys stepped out from the Air Zone shadow, showing off past creations like the Powerstrike 48.  Toy Fair showed their new version of the Gatling Punisher and a new take on the revolver, a Quickfire 12.  This was just the start!  Since then they’ve released a Quickfire rifle and a new belt-fed rifle.  Their ammo is a different take on streamline ammo as well, unlike Buzz Bee darts that still fit most Nerf blasters.  I would expect more from this company in 2012, as it looks like they’re not done yet by a long shot.  Keep your eyes peeled here for more info coming soon.:)

Buzz Bee released a lot of new items as well, notably the Rad 12.  Honestly, they released so much I’m not sure I can list everything.  The Double Shot got a new look, and a four-shot turreted blaster called the Rogue came out as well.  It looked like the Ultimate System they put out didn’t do so well, as I don’t really see many more Sniper Blasts and Ultimate Missile Blasts on shelves.

The Air Zone line out of Toys R Us, combined with the Humans Vs. Zombies game to produce blasters emblazoned with their logo, an eight-shot pistol and a new version of the triple shot.  The triple shot also saw a red repaint, sans HvZ flair.  Far as I can tell, this is a coup that a gametype involving foam blasters actually gained notice from a mass retailer.  So, congrats to the HvZ team for their success, and here’s to more zombie-fighting gear in 2012.  I’ve always said “throw your wars how you want to throw them, and let the attendees sort ’em out.”  People spoke loud and clear in this case:)

I didn’t see too much of the “XC” blasters, which I first saw at Toy Fair; but then not much in retailers:

The dark horse of the whole foam weapon business?  Zing Toys, with their Zcurve bow and arrow and other rubber band-powered weapons!  The Zcurve bow was by far my fave toy of their line, and I hope to see more out of them in 2012:

Some other companies attempted to pull people away from foam shooters.  Jakks Pacific came out with a line of spitwad shooters called “Max Force” urging people to “graduate from foam” with their paperwad shooters.  The blasters didn’t have a trigger, but they did have a bit of power in them, getting upwards of 80′.  Sadly, the accuracy left something to be desired and reloading clips was a pain in the rear end.  Aesthetically, they looked really cool, but the functionality was a real task to get used to.

Speaking of functionality if I had to give a goose egg this year to blaster design I would give it to Xploderz, one of the new lines that fires evaporating “gel pellets.”  Nevermind that their commercials are misleading in how the blasters function, they’re just poor blasters.  Unreliable loading mechansim, poor accuracy, bad placement of hand grips and components, limited allowance of motion, and delayed gratification with a toy right out of the box.  And these things are pricey, upwards of $50 for the longer range models.  Seriously, buyer beware.

Razor, of all companies, jumped into the blaster game this year just as 2011 comes to a close.  Their Vapor line fires gel pellets as well, but I think they do it better.  For instance, their first blaster, the Atlas 250 (first seen at this here blog) has a 50 round capacity per reload for a PISTOL, but also goes with a more traditional (and comfy!) trigger design.  Definitely worth watching, make sure to check Amazon.com and Zappos for products!  Of the newcomers in new projectiles, I think Razor might have the better of the products.

Wowwee, of Paper Jamz fame, released a new version of laser tag, called “Light Strike”.  A little pricey to start, but once you get going it’s a lot of fun.  With different modular accessories and other battle field items like the Intelligent Targeting System and target vests, there are a lot of ways to play, you just have to figure out how for yourself 🙂  Full link (including pricing) to the proper review: http://foamfromabove.blogspot.com/2011/10/light-strike-heres-go.html

Ultimately, though I like to think we all started with and still use Nerf.  They had a big year, from the continued success of the Dart Tag line, http://foamfromabove.blogspot.com/2011/11/holiday-buying-guide-dart-tag-pt-1-to.html, to the release of the Vortex series and numerous repainted blaster schemes (Whiteout, Gear Up, new additions to the Sonic series)
.
http://foamfromabove.blogspot.com/2011/11/holiday-buying-guide-dart-tag-pt-1-to.html
http://foamfromabove.blogspot.com/2011/12/nerf-holiday-buying-guide-part-2-nerf.html

to expanding the Super Soaker and N-Force lines:

N-FORCE VENDETTA DOUBLE SWORD
NERF N-FORCE VANTAGE Short Sword
NERF N-FORCE KLAW HATCHET

HYDRO CANNON .
NERF SUPER SOAKER TORNADO STRIKE
NERF SUPER SOAKER SCATTER BLAST .
NERF SUPER SOAKER POINT BREAK
NERF SUPER SOAKER CLIP SYSTEM Refills


Even having something for collectors, two different versions of the Barricade Rev-10, one with an Optimus Prime paintjob, and another with Bumblebee.  So, lots going on with the worker elves at Hasbro this year!  Nothing new on the lazer tag front yet, but 2012 is well on its way now.  Not to mention licensed material, like this Transformers:  Dark of the Moon blaster, as well as some of the toys from this year’s big Marvel movie blockbusters like Thor and Captain America.

WHEW!  So. Much.  What does this mean for 2012?  The market for toy blasters and other foam weaponry just might get a bit more competitive!  What I hope to see?  Blasters that have a VARIETY of functions, not just the same ol’ one dart, one pull kinda deal.  Much as I loved the Nerf line, they all fire a dart 25-30 feet, or a disc up to 60.  But functionally they tend to feel the same.  Pump-action, priming slide, it’s all too familiar territory.  Semi-auto, single-action, or full-auto.  The pistols fire within the same range as the “higher powered” blasters.  I understand that there are regulations, but give us something to work with.  I will say there’s at least one contender out to try this out, but I can’t say much more than that.  I hope to see a revisit to blasters more Blastfire and Lightning Blitz, and less like the Hornet.  Nerf’s still top of the game, but I hope there will be less repaints and reshells for 2012.  Wow me again, Hasbro.  Before one of the other companies beats you to the punch!

I’ll be back for 2012, and even more importantly, I’ll be back at Toy Fair this year in February.  I’ve got some more news to put out, but that will wait after the Mayan Spaceship invasion 🙂  Take care everyone, be safe, and weather allowing, get out and play!